Casting apparatus



S. MCFARLAND CASTING APPARATUS May 8, 1923;

Filqd Jan. 13, 1920 HGH INVENTOR:

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SAMUEL MOFARLAND, 0F COATESVILLEPENNSYLVANIA.

CASTING APPARATUS.

Application led January 13, 1920. Serial No. 351,095. t

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL MeFARLAND, a citizen of the United States, residing at Coatesville, in the county of Chester and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Casting Apparatus, 'whereof the following is a speciication, reference being had to the accompanying drawing.

My invention relates to means for casting ingots, and particularly to improvements in the runners, and nozzle bricks of refractory material, which are used to line channel passageways for molten metal in bottom sprueplates for such molds.

It is customary to mount such a mold upon a bottom sprue plate, with the greatest dimension of the mold extending vertically and to provide a passageway for molten metal terminating in a cylindrical restricted oriice intermediate of the sides of the mold. The inevitable eil'ects of such ordinary practice are, first, that the molten metal which first reaches the mold is forcefully sprayed upon the comparatively cold walls ofthe mold and, second, that as the metal continues to flow into the mold from. said orice, the entire mass of metal in the mold is unduly agitated; so that portions of the mass o f metal in the mold of diierent temperatures are mixed. Some results of such i1'- regular distribution and disturbance of the metal are that the outerrsurface of the ingot thus formed is rough and irregularthe ingot is not of uniform density or quality, and a longer time is required Vfor solidiication than if the metal were delivered to the mold.

Therefore, itis an object of my invention to provide means to direct moltenmetal into a mold, and particularly a mold for castin ingots of stee in such a way that the met is quietly and uniformly distributed to all parts of the mold, so as to form an ingot which has a substantially smooth surface and is of uniform texture.

As hereinafter described; my invention includes the provision of a runner for molten metalQtermmating 'in a nozzle brick having an orifice which is unrestricted;in the sense that the iow of molten metal therethrough is at stream,

approximately the same rate as the low through the runner, and such orifice, instead of belng cylindrical, is oblong, sc that the metal is delivered therethrough in' a fiat instead gf around jet. .However,

quietly and uniformly said orifice is, of course, laterally restricted, in one of its transverse dimensions with respect to the other, to produce such oblong form, in order to produce such a fiat stream. Some advantages ofthe employment of such means in delivering molten steel. to the ordinary molds aforesaid, are, first, that the molten metal is quietly injected at the base of the mold, instead of being spattered upon its walls and as theflow of metal continues the mold is gradually uniformly vfilled with the minimum amount of disturbance of the mass of metal already in the.mold; -so that the' metal begins to solidifyl at once and an in got of smooth exterior and uniform composit1on-and quality is cast.

I have found it convenient to illustrate the invention herein claimed, in conjunction with a bottom sprue plate formed of separable sections, which is the Subj ect matter of my copendmg application for Letters Patent o the United States, Serial No. 351,239.

However, it is to be understood that my pres# -tional view of a pouring group of ingot molds which arerespectively mounted upon separable sections of a sprue plate having complementary channels lined with refractor bricks forming a runner and nozzles for mo ten metal embodying my invention.

Fig. II is a perspective view of one of the terminal nozz e in Fig. l.

Fig. III is a perspective view of one of the intermediate nozzle bricks of the runner shown in Fig. l. l -Y l Referring to Fig. l; the similar ingot molds 1 aremounted upon the bottom sprue plate consisting of a number of separable sections 2, 3 and 4, ina pouring group; the individual molds being symmetrically disposed in relation to the central vertical runner 6.

.Said runner 6 is conveniently formed as a bricks of the runner shown anges 11 fitting into corresponding recesses in said central brick 7 and encloslng passageways 12 complementary to said outlets 9. Said bricks 10 extend in channels 1n said sprue plate section 2 and into channels 13 1n said sprue plate sections 3, so as to budge the joints between said plate sectlons and 3; and have annular flanges 14 extendlng into the latter. Said channels 13 are further lined with the refractory bricks 15, which are recessed to receive said flanges 14 and enclose passageways 16 complementary to said passageways 12. Saidbricks 15 have re spective nozzle orifices 17 which are oblong, as above contemplated, and of substantlally the same proportions as the cross dimensions of the inside of the molds 1 which they are intended to supply. Howevenas shown in Fig. IH said nozzle 17 is of substantially less area than the area of said passageway 16. For instance, I find it convenient to employ a nozzle opening which is three-quar- Sai bricks 19 also have annular flanges 21 and extend in channels 22 in said sprue plate sections 4, complementary to said channels 13 in said plate sections 3; so that said bricks 19 bridge the joints between said plate sections' 3 and 4.

Each of the radial runners comprising said bricks 10, 15 and 19, has a terminal nozzle brick 24, which is recessed to fit the flange 21 of the adjacent brick 19 and is held in the channel 22 in its section 4. Each of said terminal bricks 24 has a nozzle 25 of the oblong configuration above contemplated, through which the molten metal is delivered to the mold 1 resting upon the respective sprue plate section 4:.

The construction and arrangement above described is such that molten metal ured down said central runner 6 is radial y distributed at the bottom thereof through said runners including bricks having` the nozzles 17 and 25 and in such manner that the molds 1 in registry with said nozzles are gradually filled from the bottom up. As above noted the construction and arrangement of the nozzle aforesaid is such that the molten metal is quietly and uniformly distributed to all parts of the mold, so as to form an ingot which has a substantially smooth surcomdplementary to said passageways 16.

face and is of uniform texture, because the molten metal is quietly injected through said nozzle orifice in a flat stream, instead of being spattered upon the mold walls. 1t may be observed that the metal begins to flow through said orifices into the empty molds in the direction of the length of the orifices, so that the metal flows in that direction along the bottom of the mold until it encounters a vertical opposite wall of the mold which, thereupon9 deliects the inflowing stream of metal backward, but without spattering it, and the mass of inflowing metal is thus kept quietly moving until the bottom of the mold is covered therewith and, thereafter, while the mass of metal in the mold increases from the bottom toward the top thereof until the -desired quantity has been injected. Such operation, which is imposed by the construction and arrangement 85 of my invention shown and described, is thus distinguished from the operation of an ordinary nozzle jet, which is of substantially uniform transverse dimensions, in that withsuch an ordinary jet the molten steel initially gushes upwardly into the empty mold, above the bottom of the latter, falls backward upon the bottom plate, and spatters' and congeals so that the following stream must pour up over the top of a bridge ridge thus formed around the orifice, with such action as to cause the steel to splash the sides of the mold where it congeals and adheres, so that, the mass of steel subsequently rising to that splashed level does not merge into the splashed steel, but leaves the latter as a lamination or blister upon the surface of the ingot. as distinguished from an ingot formed by the employment of my invention, with a substantially smoothl surface, instead 105 of being rough and irregular as is characteristic of such ordinary ingots. As shown;

each of said molds 1 is provided with a removable cover 27, but those covers are preferably removed before each pouring opera- 110 tion so as to enable the operator to see when the molds are filled. However, said covers are replaced when the molds are filled, so that the metal at the upper end of the ingot is not unduly chilled, by contact with the atmosphere, but is cooled at substantially the;7 same rate as the other portions of the in- Although I have found it convenient to show one-half of a pouring group which includes eight ingot molds, it is to be understood that my invention is equally applicable to pouring groups of other numbers of molds, and to even a single mold, with the advantageous result above contemplated.

Therefore, I do not desire tolimit myself to the precise details of construction and arrangement herein set forth, as it is obvious that various modifications may be made therein without departing from the essen- 130 Lessa-2.7

tial features of my invention, as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The combination with an ingot mold, including a vertically disposed tube enclosing a space which is substantially rectangular but oblong, in a horizontal plane; of a bottom sprue plate supporting-said mold and having a channel beneath said mold; and a conduit for molten metal extending in said channel and including a hollow brick of refractory material having, centrally located within said space, a nozzle orifice which is oblong horizontally, more than twice as long as it is wide, and has substantially parallel side walls; said orifice being disposed with its longest horizontal dimension substantially parallel wit-h the longest horizontal dimension of said mold; whereby molten metal is delivered to said mold in a substantially fiat stream, and in coaxial relation with said mold tube.

2. The combination with an ingot mold, including a vertically disposed tube enclosing a space which is substantially rectangular but oblong, in a horizontal plane; of a bottom sprue plate supporting said mold and having a channel; and a conduit for mo-lten metal extending in said channel and including a hollow brickof refractory material having, centrally located within said space, a nozzle orifice which is oblong horizontally and has substantially parallel side walls; said orifice being disposed with its longest horizontal dimension substantially parallel with the longest horizontal dimension of said mold; whereby molten metal is delivered to said mold' in a substantially flat stream, and in coaxial rela-tion with said mold tube.

3. In casting apparatus; a. hollow brick of refractory material enclosing a cylindrical passageway for molten metal, and having a transversely restricted nozzle orifice, opening laterally from said passageway; said orifice being longer in the direction of the length of said passageway than in the direction transverse thereto.

4. In casting apparatus; a hollow brick of refractory materialienclosing a passageway for molten metal, and having a transversely restricted nozzle orifice, opening laterally from said passageway; said orifice being longer in the direction of the length of said passageway than in the direction transverse thereto.

5. In casting apparatus; a hollow brick of refr actory material having a cylindrical passageway for molten metal entirely through it. with means at each end thereof for reglstration with a complementary brick, and having a transversely restricted nozzle orice opening laterally from said passageway; said orifice being longer in the direction of the length of said passageway than in the direction transverse thereto, and of substantially less area than the area of said passageway.

6. In casting apparatus; a hollow brick of refractory material having a paageway for molten metal entirely through it, withl means at each end thereof for registration with a complementary brick, and having a transversely restricted nozzle orifice opening laterally from said passageway; said orifice being longer in the direction of the length of said passageway than in the direction transverse thereto, and of substantially less area than the area of said passageway.

7. ln casting apparatus; a hollow brick of refractory material having a passageway for molten metal entirely through it, and having' a transversely restricted nozzle orifice opening laterally from said passageway; said orifice being longer in the direction of the length of said passageway than in the direction transverse thereto, and of substantially less area than the area of said passageway.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name at Coatesville, Pennsylvania, this 24th day of November, 1919.

SAMUEL MCFARLAND. 

